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Romuald Hazoumè’s exhibition My Blue Period is on view at October Gallery in London through November 21, 2026. Its found-object masks use plastic jugs and other materials to evoke women affected by war and other global crises, while the artist presents blue as a call for sympathy and reduced suffering.
Artist Romuald Hazoumè’s My Blue Period is on view at October Gallery in London through November 21, 2026, presenting found-object masks that respond to armed conflict, ecological destruction and the suffering of women. Made from plastic jugs and materials including feathers, netting and hardened paintbrushes, the sculptures turn everyday containers into faces associated with specific tragedies reported in the news.
The works belong to Hazoumè’s ongoing series masques bidons, translated in the source report as “fake masks.” They retain recognizable parts of the plastic vessels: circular openings can read as mouths, while handles suggest noses. Feathers, netting and other found objects add details without concealing the containers that give the sculptures their distinctive forms.
The exhibition’s newer works shift attention from men and broader themes such as migration and collapse, which featured in earlier pieces, toward women and particular tragedies. The report describes references ranging from a mother in Gaza killed by a sniper while seeking bread for her children to a Russian widow whose two sons died and who later poisoned herself. Those accounts are presented as the stories behind the works; the source does not provide independent documentation of each incident.
Hazoumè says he collected ordinary names from tragic accounts in news reports and made the sculptures as a way to give his own feelings a concrete form. The artist frames the works not as portraits of particular people but as responses to recurring accounts of women being abused and worn down by violence. The gallery presentation includes sculptures titled “Kongo,” “Shoshi,” “Soulagée,” “Chênnai” and “Thal.”
Blue as a Call for Sympathy
Hazoumè uses color to connect the sculptures’ formal choices to their political concerns. The report says blue connotes serenity and healing in Yoruba culture and is also associated with peace. The artist contrasts it with the red lines invoked in war and the color of blood, imagining a “blue line” as a way to emphasize reducing suffering and restoring hope.
That framing gives the exhibition a specific purpose beyond depicting grief: it asks viewers to consider whether sympathy can be recovered amid repeated stories of violence. The masks’ visible jug forms also keep the material object in view, making the imagined faces an act of interpretation rather than an attempt at realistic portraiture. The exhibition thus joins a reflection on human loss with attention to the materials from which the works are made.
For visitors, the distinction between a named tragedy and a generalized symbol matters. Hazoumè’s stated focus is on women affected by particular events, while the assembled forms remain abstract. The works invite a response to the accounts without claiming to provide a complete record of the conflicts or individual lives they reference.
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From Picasso’s Blue Period to Bidons
The exhibition title refers to Pablo Picasso’s Blue Period, which began after the death of a friend, according to the source report. The report also connects that reference to Picasso’s later African Period, when he appropriated masking traditions from across the continent. Hazoumè, like Picasso in assembling found objects into minimal forms, uses simplified shapes; his stated subject, however, is not personal experience but ecological destruction, genocide and armed conflict.
Hazoumè’s explanation of the bidon—the French word for a container or canister—helps clarify how the sculptures work. “For me, it’s crucial that you never lose sight of the container (bidon) yet still believe in the illusion,” he says. He describes the visible jug as a reminder that viewers themselves project a face onto the plastic. The object is both the physical basis of each mask and a prompt to examine how people recognize human expression in it.
The exhibition is at October Gallery in London. The source report identifies the show as running through November 21, 2026, but provides no attendance figures, sales information or further schedule details.
““The bidon’s presence taunts you, making you conscious that it’s you projecting that ‘face’ you ‘see’ onto those plastic materials.””
— Romuald Hazoumè
Details Behind the Stories
The source report identifies the tragedies that informed some works, but does not provide names or independent sourcing for the people and incidents it describes. It is therefore unclear from the available material which specific news reports Hazoumè drew on, or how each account corresponds to an individual sculpture. The works should be understood as the artist’s responses to reported events, not as independently verified documentation of those cases.
The report also does not give information about the exhibition’s visitor numbers, any related public programming, or whether the works will be shown elsewhere after the London run. No further statements from October Gallery are included in the source material.
London Exhibition Runs to November
My Blue Period remains on view at October Gallery through November 21, 2026. The source report gives no later exhibition dates or planned follow-up announcements, so it is not clear whether the works will travel or be presented in another format after the London showing closes.
Until then, the exhibition offers visitors a chance to see Hazoumè’s recent masks alongside the ideas he has stated about grief, conflict and sympathy. Further information about gallery programming or the works’ subsequent display was not available in the supplied report.
Key Questions
Where is My Blue Period on view?
The exhibition is at October Gallery in London.
How long does the exhibition run?
The source report says My Blue Period runs through November 21, 2026.
What materials does Hazoumè use for the masks?
The sculptures use plastic jugs and found objects, including feathers, netting and hardened paintbrushes. Features such as jug openings and handles help suggest facial parts.
What does the exhibition address?
Hazoumè’s works respond to armed conflict, ecological destruction and women’s suffering. The artist says the sculptures draw on tragic accounts reported in the news; the source material does not independently verify every story referenced.
Why is the exhibition titled My Blue Period?
The title refers to Picasso’s Blue Period, while Hazoumè uses blue as a symbol of peace, healing and sympathy. He describes it as a counterpoint to war’s red imagery and as a call to reduce suffering.
Source: thisiscolossal.com
